TOPIC 10

THE ORTHOGRAPHIC CODE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE:

• THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOUNDS AND SPELLING.
• PROPOSALS FOR THE TEACHING OF THE WRITTEN CODE:
• THE APPLICATION OF SPELLING TO WRITTEN PRODUCTION.

2. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN 3. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN 4. PROPOSALS FOR THE TEACHING OF 5. THE APPLICATION OF SPELLING TO
1. INTRODUCTION 6. CONCLUSIONS
SOUNDS AND SPELLING SOUNDS AND SPELLING THE WRITTEN CODE WRITTEN PRODUCTION

2.1. SOME REASONS FOR THE 3.3. SILENT

RELEVANCE 3.1. VOWELS
DIFFERENCE LETTERS

3.2. CONSONANTS
 TOPIC 10
THE ORTHOGRAPHIC CODE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE:

1. INTRODUCTION

RELEVANCE OF THIS TOPIC

since it's In this way

sounds an essential subject Spanish Educational Authorities

are since and specifically

Decree 22/2007,
the most easily perceived English phonemes don’t passed on the 10th of May
phenomenon in nature correspond to its graphemes which establishes the curriculum for Primary
Education in the Community of Madrid

However it means that Therefore sets up in

they are not pronounced in the same it is very difficult to learn for
the same sound the 3rd block of contents
way as they are written foreigners such as Spanish

may have

a different meaning in different THE IMPORTANCE OF THE

situations KNOWLEDGE OF LANGUAGE
 2. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOUNDS AND SPELLING.

2.1. SOME REASONS FOR THE DIFFERENCE

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT IIREGULARITIES

1st - British missionaries tried to 2nd - In the 15th century, 3rd - In Old English: 4th - In Middle English: 5th - The same happened 6th - The spelling of British
create the earliest English alphabet a French king ruled over Great Britain the first problematic sound the first problematic sound with the sounds and American English words

Although replaced a.k.a.

most sounds in Old English British scribes by French initial consonant sounds in DIFFERENT
the Great the initial sound SIMPLIFICATION ORDER
could be represented by scribes the words <think> /θ/ and the one in <cat> /æ/. LETTER
Vowel Shift in the word <we> /w/.
Latin alphabet who were not familiar to the runic <they> /ð/
symbols

there were because represented by

As a consequence represented by

they changed the graphic the pronunciation of long Latin missionaries had no two different runic symbols
4 English sounds French scribes Brit <colour> Brit <theatre> Brit <analise>
representation of these vowels and diphthongs correspondence in their “thorn” and “eth” the Latin letter “aesh” <æ>.
that had no correspondence were not familiar to this symbol Am <color> Am <theater> Am <analize>
symbols completely changed alphabet respectively

had to use and used and replaced it by

causing In fact, this is Although

two <uu>
the main difference in
runic symbols most of the irregularities the runic symbol Owing to scribes’ fast writing, French scribes replaced French language also had
pronunciation between Middle
to solve this problem we have nowadays called “wynn” <Ƿ> these two <uu> became the both by the digraph <th>, letter “aesh” in its alphabet
and Modern English
cluster <w>.

which
so

• long /a/ -> /ei/ as in <make>

• long /e/ -> /i/ as in <feet> has survived until modern
it was soon simplified into
• long /i/ -> /ai/ as in <mice> English and keeps the
modern <a>.
• long /o/ -> /ou/ as in <boat> duality of pronunciation
• long /u/ -> /au/ as in <mouse>.
3. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOUNDS AND SPELLING
(functional description of the sound-spelling correspondence)

tends to be
<fat> /æ/
pronounced as in

• <a + r> = <far> /a:/

The most common • <a + i > = <fair> /eə/
1st - vowel <a> combinations • <a + l> = <fall> / /
• <a + const + e> = <fate> /ei/

tends to be
<bed> /e/
pronounced as in

• <ee> =. <reed> /i:/

• <e + a + r>
- <hear> /iə/
- <earth> /3:/
The most common - <heart> /a:/
2nd - vowel <e> combinations

• Unstressed <-er> in final position <hammer> /ə/

• Stressed <er> in mid position <servant> /3:/

tends to be
pronounced as in
<milk> /i/

3.1. VOWEL SYSTEM 3rd - vowel <i> • <i + const + e> = <bite> /ai/
The most common • <i + r> = <sir> /3:/
combinations
• <i + r +e> = <fire> /aiə/

tends to be
4th - vowel <o> <hot> / /
pronounced as in

• <o + const + e> = <nose> /əu/

• <o + r> = <lord> / /
The most common • <w + o> = <word> /3:/
combinations • <o + o>
- <book> /u/
- <blood> / /
tends to be
5th - vowel <u> <lunch> / / or <put> /u/
pronounced as in

The most common • <u + r> = <surf> /3:/

combinations • <u + r +e> = <cure> /juə/
 3. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOUNDS AND SPELLING
(functional description of the sound-spelling correspondence)

3.2. CONSONANT SYSTEM 3.3. SILENT LETTERS

sound-spelling correspondences
can be divided into

letters that are no

3 GROUPS
pronounced in some words

3RD GROUP • <b> in <plumber>

1ST GROUP 2ND GROUP • <c> in <muscle>
clusters that change their
do not change their pronunciation do change their pronunciation • <g> in <campaign>
pronunciation
in terms of their position in terms of the following vowel • <k> in <know>
in terms of their position
• <l> in <talk>
• <s> in <aisle>
• <w> in <write>

<d>, <t>, and <l> <c> <g> <ch> <th>

e.g.

• Initial: <cheap> / / or <Christmas> /k/ • Initial: <think> /θ/ or <they> /ð/

• <dive, ladder, made> + <a, o, u> = <car, come, cut> /k/ + <a, o, u, ou> = <gas, got, gum,
• Final: <church>* / / or <stomach> /k/ • Final: <bath>* /θ/ or <breathe> /ð/
• <tea, cluster, pot> + <e, i, y> = <cell, city, cyber> /s/ gourmet> /g/
• Mid: <brochure> / / • Mid: <Matthew> /θ/
• <line, solo, bull> + <ia, ea> = <racial, ocean> / / + <e, i, y> = <genie, giraffe, gym> / /
(*) more frequent (*) more frequent
 4. PROPOSALS FOR THE TEACHING OF THE WRITTEN CODE
(THE 5 WRITING SKILLS )

5. THE APPLICATION OF SPELLING TO WRITTEN PRODUCTION

(ACTIVITIES)

at

Primary level

written practice is
connected with spelling

as they progress

spelling -> simple word ->

ACTIVITIES
simple sentence formation

an progressive develop

THE 5 WRITING SKILLS

described by Matthews, Spratt and Dangerfield Magnetic Spelling Spelling Baseball Snowman
(At the chalkface)

Teacher draws four bases on a a non violent version of

piece of paper to be the bases. hangman.
Pitcher selects a word. If batter
students use a small magnetic
can spell it correctly, he moves The teacher draws a snowman
1. GRAPHIC 2. GRAMMATICAL 3. STYLISTICS 4. RHETORICAL 5. ORGANISATIONAL board in order to spell words
forward one base. If batter with hat and three buttons. The
SKILLS SKILLS SKILLS SKILLS SKILLS from a list. This activity can be
cannot spell the word, he teacher erases a part of the
done individually or in pairs
remains where he is. snowman for each wrong guess.

Child receives point every time The aim is to guess the word
he passes home base. before the snowman melts.

- How to punctuate - Cohesion and

sentences.
- To use a variety of - To use different coherence. - To logically sequence ideas,
- Spell,
sentence patterns and registers. - Means: to organize their - Summarise relevant points,
- Use capitals
- Develop the format for constructions. - e.g. formal or informal writing clearly and - reject irrelevant ones.
writing. coherently.
 6. CONCLUSIONS

TO SUM UP REFERENCES

This topic has analysed the orthographic code in English language in detail. In having In order to develop this topic, I have used the following references:
done so, section one has presented a diachronic study of the most significant
irregularities found in English. Section two has compiled both vowel and consonant - Language Acquisition by R. Ellis,
sound-spelling correspondences. Last section gathers a number of useful spelling - At the Chalkface by Matthews, Spratt and Dangerfield (1991)
activities for Primary students. - The Grammar of Words: An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology by Geert, E. (2007).